Is Democracy for Sale? Neoliberalism's Final Act
Democracy is in crisis in Australia as in much of the Western world, glaringly in Trump’s America. Nor is it doing much better elsewhere. The neo-liberal economic order ushered in the later 1970s with its emphasis on deregulation, privatisation and the dominance of the unfettered market seems to be crumbling. Inequality within and between countries has reached new heights.
How do we make sense of all this? Can we envision a more promising future? Is democratic renewal an option?
Two eminent public intellectuals, Professor John Keane and Professor John Quiggin will address these urgent questions in a fascinating online conversation with Professor Joseph Camilleri.
Tuesday 8 July 2025 | 7.30pm – 9.15pm
Professor John Keane is
Professor of Politics at the University of Sydney. He founded the London-based Centre for the Study of Democracy, later directed the Sydney Democracy Network and, most recently, designed and launched the global platform Democracy Lighthouse. For two decades he was Distinguished Research Professor at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin. He is the author of many books, translated in more than three dozen languages. Recent books include The Shortest History of Democracy and Thinking About Democracy in Turbulent Times: Sorbonne Lectures. He has frequently contributed to the New York Times, the Guardian, Die Zeit and other media.
Professor John Quiggin is Professor of Economics at the University of Queensland. He is a prominent research economist and a commentator on economic policy and politics. He is a Fellow of the Econometric Society, the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and other learned societies. He has authored and edited many books and over 200 refereed journal articles, in such fields as environmental economics, production economics, and the theory of economic growth. He has also written on policy topics, including climate change, micro-economic reform, privatisation, and employment policy. Recent books include After Neoliberalism, Public Policy and Climate Change, and Western Welfare Capitalism in Good Times and Bad